


love me in the salty sea

by jennibrolawrence



Series: Stirrings of Hope [2]
Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M, ahem anyway i hope u all cry :)))), also dangit i just realized baleen means whale fat, annie is one of the most bomb-ass characters ever ilu so much, annie is strong, i reposted this bc it sucked, i'll shut up so u can read and cry ok, idc iAM NOT CHANGING HIS NAME!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-14
Updated: 2013-07-14
Packaged: 2017-12-20 03:55:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/882653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jennibrolawrence/pseuds/jennibrolawrence
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Annie Cresta Odair moves on. She doesn't forget--no, she could never forget the events of the past--but she can move on. It's what he would want.</p>
            </blockquote>





	love me in the salty sea

Three years after Finnick Jr. is born, Katniss and Peeta visit me.

They offer to watch Finn while I go out on the water, catching fish for dinner.

I still miss my husband. I'll always miss him. He made the nightmares go away, and he always brought me back into the world when I tried to leave it, which was often.

But I have to move on. I cannot keep wishing life away, I cannot will death to come sooner so I can be reunited with Finnick.  
I must keep living.  
It is where I am now and I must accept that.

It's best for Finn if he has a fully involved mother.

My boat bumps into someone else's, and I am surprised. Not a lot of people come out at this time of day--it's barely mid-morning.

"Hey there, sorry about that," the man in the boat says. "I hope I didn't break your boat."

He has tanned skin, dark hair, and brilliant green eyes.  
He looks nothing like Finnick.  
"Oh, um...no, you didn't break anything," I choke out, trying to act like the nearly-thirty-year-old that I am. "Wh-what's your name?"

"Balen Kickham. Pleasure to meet you, lovely lady," he says, grinning and extending his hand out. Charming. But not the same kind of charming persona that Finnick had. This is a genuine charm, the kind that makes you want to wrap yourself up in his voice.

I shake his hand and tell him my name. "I'm Annie Odair. Nice to meet you too."

He obviously recognizes the name, but is kind enough to not go further. I am grateful for that.

We fish side-by-side, boat-by-boat, really, in silence.

When our nets are full, I make my way to the shore and he follows close behind.

I suppose the polite thing to do is to invite him for lunch, so I muster up the courage to do so. "Would you like to come for lunch?"

"Okay. I just need to put my fish away, then I'll be over. You live near the beach, right?"

"Yeah. In the coral-and-turquoise house."

Excitement bubbles up in my stomach. I've just made a new friend.

Hauling my net in my arms, I dump it in the icebox in the kitchen, and rush to the shower to rinse the smell of fish off me.

"Katniss," I holler, "we're gonna have a guest for lunch, okay?"

"Okay," she yells back from the playroom where I can hear Finn's giggles and Peeta's laughter. I smile to myself.

Peeta would make a wonderful father, but I know better than to bring that subject up around Katniss.

She and Peeta aren't even, you know, /together/ yet.

She and I talked late into the night last night, catching up on the past three years.

She sank into a deep depression for nearly the entire first year, and then slowly came back to life within the past two years.

I asked her if she and Peeta were sharing a bed again, and she said yes, blushing slightly.

Rinsing the soap out of my hair, I mull over their relationship. It is probably the most complicated relationship in Panem, (although when you think about it, Finnick and I had quite the complexities in our marriage).

It's as clear as day to me that Peeta loves her again--I don't think his love ever went away, really--it was just buried underneath the hijacking venom for a long time.

And Katniss has loved him from the start. Putting it bluntly, she was too dumb to tell what her own feelings were.

I could tell by her behaviour in the Quell when I watched it.

She just has a hard time admitting her feelings for anyone and anything.

I look down at my stomach, stretch marks still evident from Finn.

It's been three years since I gave birth, and I wish I could give Finn a sister or a brother. He asks where Daddy is sometimes.

Obviously I can't do it on my own.

Gale and Johanna are coming the week after Peeta and Katniss leave, and Johanna confided in me that she and Gale are together.

Maybe if they decide to have children, those can be Finnick's siblings.

Turning the shower water off, I step out and towel myself dry, then walk to my room and pull out a green sundress and put my hair in a quick bun.

Katniss knocks on the door. "Come in," I say.  
"Hey, you look nice," she smiles. "Who's our guest?"

"Balen Kickham. I met him out on the ocean when I was fishing."

An almost Johanna-like smirk spreads across Katniss's face.

"Don't get any ideas," I order. "Don't you dare, Katniss Everdeen...Mellark...Everlark...whatever you are now..."

Her laughter follows her into the kitchen, as do I.

Peeta is holding Finnick in his lap, bouncing him up and down. The expression on Peeta's face is one of utter joy and love.

Katniss's expression changes from that of mirth to impassive.

I give Peeta a look that says, "She'll come around eventually."

The doorbell rings. I run to get it, and there he is.

Balen.

"Hey," I say breathlessly. "Come on in."

Peeta puts Finnick down and he runs to Katniss, fat arms clutching her leg. She picks him up and plunks him on her lap.

As we sit down to lunch made by Peeta, Baleen realizes who he's in the presence of and looks at me.

"Are they--" he whispers," and I nod. "Yes, Katniss and Peeta."

The rest of lunch is very enjoyable, Peeta and Balen sharing stories about manly sorts of things and laughing.

I feed Finn little bites of my food (he turns his nose up at the salad) and Katniss stays mostly silent, mainly looking at Peeta with an unfathomable expression in her eyes.

When it comes time for Baleen to leave, he asks me if I want to have fish with him sometime soon.

I say yes a little too quickly, then turn red and try not to cover my ears.

Three days later, as Finn and me wave good-bye to Katniss and Peeta at the train station, Balen at my side, we go on that date.

Many more dates ensue over the next year. Johanna makes fun of me when she visits with Gale, makes fun of my giddiness, saying that I'm acting even worse than I did when Finnick and I were just beginning our relationship. I stick my tongue out at her and Gale laughs.

Several months after Gale and Johanna visit me, Balen and I share our first real kiss under the moonlight near the sea.

It tastes of salt and life, and the promise of years to come.

He asks me to marry him a year later.

Baleen drops to his right knee, and pulls out a simple ring, a simple ring made of twine and a small metal anchor in the middle, and I say yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes.

We don't invite anyone to the wedding, except Finn. We can have a bigger wedding later, anyway.

Our first night together is wonderful, even more wonderful than the night that Finn was conceived.

We lay together afterwards under the linen sheets, breathing hard, and I tell Balen that I love him.

We decide we want to have children after a few months, and almost immediately after that decision, I get pregnant with Noah.

Two years later I give birth to Molly.

Baleen, Finn, Noah, and I stand on the beach as I hold Molly in my arms.

The priest lifts up saltwater from the ocean, sprinkling it over Molly's downy head.

I have moved on, truly. I will always love my first husband, Finnick Odair, but there are years ahead of me.

Gale and Johanna have moved on. Katniss and Peeta have gotten married.

Effie and Haymitch have a second child on the way.

Our not-blood family, as strange as it is, will always be connected by the terrible past--but we have the freedom of hope and the future.


End file.
